Thursday, April 3, 2014

Day 30: Arguing with God

In today's first reading, we see Moses interceding to God on behalf of the Israelites because they had turned away from the Lord and started to adore a golden calf that they had fashioned. Pope Francis ran with this theme this morning in his homily when he talked about Moses' conversation with God as genuine prayer: "The Bible says that Moses spoke to God face to face, as a friend. This is how our prayer must be: free, insisted, with arguments." Now to the devout this may seem a little disrespectful, but the Pope is trying to draw us deeper into the life of prayer. Sometimes we pray "words" and don't enter into a profound conversation with our Lord. So yes, at times we do need to argue with God. Why hasn't he resolved an issue we have been praying for? Why does it seem like he is not listening to us? This is how we talk to a friend, the Pope says. This also brings us to deeper into the mystery of God's will for us, it invigorates us, and opens us up to all the grace that God is prepared to bestow on us. It also opens us up more to the Holy Spirit who will guide us in our prayer life and deepen it. So, take a moment today to genuinely converse with God. Argue with him if you have to. You will only come out of that prayer more invigorated because you have had a genuine encounter with the Divine.